the life of a health nut

Category Archives: Uncategorized

22 days ago my boyfriend of over six years turned into my fiance in grand fashion that I will never forget.

If you care to read the cute details, here they are:

On November 1 we went for a walk down to the waterfront and strolled through Sculpture Park just before sunset. I had never been in the park and absolutely love the water so I was excited! As we got to the edge of the park overlooking the sound, ferry and mountains Dan began to reminisce about the past six years and all we have been through and what we have become. He then got down on one knee and popped the question, on-lookers cheered and congratulated us. I then noticed that Dan had hired a hidden photographer to capture the special moment – job well done, babe! We then continued on with our walk to dinner (the whole reason for the walk in the first place) and when we arrived at the restaurant the room was full of our family and friends to help celebrate our exciting next step in our love story. Such a great night!

I guess the one nice thing about celebrating a birthday and getting a year older is the presents…and dessert, if you know me you know I HAVE to have my sweets. A couple weeks back I turned 28 and rang it in with some of my best friends, it was a great time. A couple days later I got a gift from my bf – a new watch! This isn’t just any watch though, it is the new Polar Loop watch/activity tracker! I have been eyeing this for probably close to a year now and I am in love with it.

The Loop tracks activity, steps, calories, heart rate, and time. I decided to get this one because it connects with my blue-tooth heart rate monitor strap that I wear for all of my workouts. The Loop also connects to Polar Flow and iphone app where you can see all your stats laid out in front of you:

Wearing this has really encouraged me to take long walks throughout the day when I can, get off my booty every hour to avoid the inactivity alerts and push it in my workouts. I never thought a tracker like this would have so much impact on my daily life but it does and I love it!

Well, well, well here I am! Back in action and here to tell you about this interesting new journey I am on this month. I have looked into Paleo/Whole 30 previously and turned my nose at the concept because how was I supposed to go 30 days without greek yogurt, quinoa, beans and no cheating!? There was no way I would last. I will say, I think highly of those staples so eventually I will probably incorporate them back into my diet. My weight has steadily increased to a number I haven’t seen in about 10 years, a number that when I lost 50 pounds 10 years ago I never wanted to see again. That number made me decide I needed to do something a little drastic.

The day I decided that, the bf and I were talking and I could tell he was thinking something and I asked what was on his mind. “I am thinking I need to do something drastic to lose some weight” were his words and I then told him that all day I had been researching and thinking about trying Whole 30. We were both on board. Usually I enjoy starting things on a Monday but, this was Sunday so we decided to start Tuesday after we went grocery shopping on Monday evening. We are on a budget and I was happy to see our grocery bill which included a ton of food was no higher than a normal shopping trip.

It is now day 4 and I feel like susie homemaker! I have been cooking egg frittatas, chicken fajitas, making homemade mayo, potato salad and mango salsa and I love it. I do really wish we had a dishwasher though…It feels good to be in the kitchen making food that is for optimal health. I have yet to get the headaches or the lack of energy some people have described and I hope I get to just bypass all of that because I am feeling great! The bf even mentioned keeping a diet like this 80% of the time and then incorporating other food in 20% of time, that would be fun!

Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and share this journey with you. I hope to post more reguallary about this and other happenings in my life.

Here is a picture of my last meal before the challenge, we had Thai and froyo:

It doesn’t actually pain me too much to write those words in my blog post title – I won’t hit my goal. The goal that I am referring to is my 2013 weight loss goal. I am actually 25 pounds away from the weight goal I set for myself on January 1, 2013, but I am OK with it. There is also a good chance that I may ring in 2014 weighing more than I did in 2013. I hope that is not the case and I am working hard to turn things around these next 5.5 weeks of the current year, but if it happens then it happens. 2013 has been a very rough year for me and I spent a lot of the year stressed and anxious which makes it hard to focus on weight loss. I have struggled with anorexia in the past so weight is a huge deal to me but I am trying to learn to take it one day at a time. In addition to taking it one day at a time, I am also trying to stress less and be a little more carefree in my personal life. I am learning that is very important. So, in closing I won’t hit my goal weight this year, but I will hit it in 2014 and I will do it with a good stress-free attitude!

This picture was taken by my boyfriend last night on our way out to dinner. I am happy how my body looks here 🙂

I have seen this cleanse advertised all over social media. Friends do it, bloggers do it, people I know try to sell me the products etc. I am in the process of losing about 20 pounds and so I thought maybe this was something I needed to try to jump-start my weight loss. I figured I eat pretty clean already so why not take some pills and drink some fiber powder. Well I’ll tell you why not – because that is unnatural. I can get fiber from grains, fruits and veggies and I don’t take pills so the supplements weren’t even going to happen anyway. There was also the Spark energy drink. Why did I all of a sudden become so desperate that I was going to start drinking energy drinks? Coffee is good for your body, and the coffee was what got me. I had been on the cleanse for 1 day and then on the second day was going to meet up with my friend for coffee after work, but on the Advocare cleanse you can’t have coffee. So I told myself that I could have a tea, and I enjoy tea. But really I wanted coffee and that’s when I quit the cleanse, all because I felt that if I wanted a soy latte I should be able to have one, and it was delicious!

It really made me take a closer look at what I put into my body and the messaging that is out there for the millions of people to see. My overall thoughts about the cleanse are simple. If Advocare is something you do to jumpstart weight loss than great, the clean eating portion is really excellent, but if you think that eating clean and taking pills and drinks for 24 days will get you to your health goals and keep you there, you are most likely wrong. Eating well takes work and is not always easy but getting your nutrients from a box is the worst option.

Overall, I am happy I spent the money and the 1.5 days on Advocare because it catapulted my decision to go back to school to be a holistic nutritionist!

I want to start a weekly feature on Cycle for Cake called Three Tip Thursday. How creative, I know. These tips will be related to wellness and the first one will be food focused.

Three small changes to make your eating a little healthier:

Add cinnamon to things like oats, apple sauce and cereal to give it more flavor. I did this just the other day, I bought natural unsweetened apple sauce and covered it in cinnamon, so tasty!

Add kale or spinach to your morning or post workout smoothie. If you have been around the blog world for a little while, you may have heard these referred to as green monsters, I think Angela was the first blogger I ever saw do this. Adding the spinach or kale increases the nutrition factor in your smoothie, plus you get to add up your 9 servings of fruits and veggies even quicker.

Bake your eggs for the week. Eggs are an excellent source of protein and a good snack but sometimes hard boiling them can be a task. You have to take the time to boil the water the keep your eye on them. Plus I always forget how long to boil and when to put them into the water…blah, blah, blah. So, I have started baking them in the oven! It is so simple, just put a dozen eggs in a muffin tin, turn the oven onto 325 and cook for about 20-30 minutes. You should start to see some spotting, that is when they are ready. Once they are out of the oven, place them in a bowl of ice water for about 10 minutes. There you have it, eggs ready to go for the week!

When I told my boyfriend I was going to write an internet blog post about unplugging and disconnecting from social media he laughed. I guess the concept is a little funny, but with putting more effort into this blog recently it has crossed my mind about taking time out of everyday to make sure I relax my mind. It’s my nature to be always thinking about the next best thing, the next recipe, my next career, my next workout, what I’m doing next weekend, etc. This can stress me out and make me feel very anxious, and has made me realize I need to shut down my mind every night. Now, this has not actually happened yet but I am trying hard to make it into a routine.

Here are a list of my tips to disconnect for a little bit of each day:

Take a walk with a loved one or alone. I did this last night and it felt good on my eyes to not be staring at a screen and great emotionally to take time to connect with my loved one.

Practice yoga. I really enjoy yoga when doing it but lack motivation to go because I don’t feel like it is considered a workout, now I know this is naive and I should take more classes. I have one on the calendar for this weekend, I will let you know how it goes.

Spend time in a bath or hot tub. Ahhhhh I wish I had a hot tub! I would probably be in there all the time, but baths can be just as relaxing and it would really force me to put my phone away.

Make a to-do list of home projects you want to complete so that you feel like you are still getting something done while decreasing screen time.

If possible, turn off or silence your phone an hour before you go to bed to make sure that you can get a better night’s sleep.

It is difficult to disconnect and hard when there is so much good info/news/tips/friends all online at your fingertips but I really think it’s critical for our overall wellness. Here’s to trying to shut off just a tiny bit more!

Have you heard of Scavenger Dash? They have events all throughout the country yearlong. Check out this site to see if they are coming to your city. I highly recommend you try it!

Here is a quick run down from their website:

What is Scavenger Dash?

Scavenger Dash is a wildly fun urban adventure. Teams of two solve twelve clues, scavenge items, take photos, complete fun challenges and have a wild adventure…all while discovering the city in a whole different way. It’s an amazing race on a local level, where anyone can participate.

This was the second year in a row that I participated and again it was a blast! I was able to improve from last year in my time (by an hour) by learning better tactics. I think my favorite part about the whole experience is getting out in your town, interacting with random people on the street and really getting to see the good in people – they help you with challenges sometimes. This year my friend Joie joined me and it was great. Here are some pics we took along the way.

After finishing the scavenger dash

One of the challenge clues was to find this little guy down by the waterfront

Another challenge was to get a picture being handcuffed by security

Joie by one of the sculptures

Checking the time

Posing by street box art

This challenge was to find 4 strangers and do the “ta-da” pose

Overall, it was another fun-filled dash and I can’t wait to participate again next year. I also think it would be super rad to try it out in a city you are visiting. Have you ever done something like this?

I heard that this month is National Childhood Obesity Month when I was browsing online for nothing related to that topic but it sparked my interest. I did a little more research and found some interesting pieces of information.

President Barack Obama declared September 2013 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, encouraging Americans to get involved in promoting healthy eating and physical activity for our kids nationwide.

Obesity affects millions of American children and teenagers, putting them at risk for serious health issues, such as diabetes, cancer, asthma, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Rates of childhood obesity—after exponentially increasing over the last three decades—are holding steady and even decreasing in some areas.

“During National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, let us build on this momentum and strengthen the trend toward healthier lifestyles and brighter futures for our Nation’s children,” The President said in a proclamation released August 30th, 2013.

Let’s Move! continues to extend a call to action to get everyone involved in overcoming this epidemic. The First Lady remains dedicated to working together to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition.

“We all share in the responsibility of helping our Nation’s children enjoy longer, healthier lives,” said President Obama. “Together, we can give them the energy and confidence to learn, excel, and pursue their dreams.”

(me, about age 13)

Growing up as an overweight child has impacted my whole life, and I think that is why I am so passionate about health overall. I remember being called thunder thighs in middle school by a group of boys, I remember not being able to participate fully in PE class, or even worse – skipping it, I remember never liking what I saw in pictures, I remember eating candy bars and muffins for meals. That is just not a quality way to grow up. I don’t blame my parents but in a way I do feel they should have felt a little bit of responsibility. As a parent or guardian you need to put your child’s health in your own hands just like you would if they had a life threatening disease. Obesity kills. It is often a slow death, but in the end the choices a parent and their child make early on can impact the overall health of a little one.

I know there are many issues involved in a child being overweight or obese but if we as a country, city, town or community take steps to teach kids how to take small steps to be healthier everyone will benefit!